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Starfleet
Starfleet are the stellar navy of the United Federation of Planets and are charged with both military and exploration duties. History 22nd Century The Department of the Star Fleet was founded in 2161 under the Articles of the Federation ratified in that year by Earth, Vulcan, Alpha Centauri, Andoria, and Tellar. Due to the then-recent ending of the Earth-Romulan War, at the time the military forces of Earth were the largest and most-advanced of the five original signatories, and it was decided that Star Fleet Command would be formed along the lines of the Terran Starfleet. Therefore, Fleet Headquarters was located in San Francisco on Terra, home of the Terran Starfleet. However, Star Fleet Command maintains facilities throughout the Federation. The charter of the Star Fleet was to serve as the exploratory, diplomatic, and defensive agency of the United Federation of Planets. When formed in 2161, the Star Fleet integrated the various military forces of Earth, Andoria, and Tellar. The introduction of the Daedalus class in 2164 marked the first class commissioned and operated under the auspices of the UFP. 23rd Century Shortly after the disastrous outbreak of hostilities with the Klingon Empire at the start of the 23rd century, major changes were carried out to Starfleet. The force structure of the Star Fleet at the time was geared towards exploration and the Federation was woefully ill-equipped to handle a serious military conflict. Star Fleet began development of purely military-aspect vessels. Within several years of the outbreak of hostilities, the Larson-Class destroyer entered service and was rushed to the front lines to restore the balance of power. In the latter half of the 23rd century, conflict with the Klingons had turned into a Cold War and other Threat forces like the Romulans seemed unwilling to risk general war. Their threat never fully dissipated, however. As such, while Starfleet day-to-day focused more on exploration operations, an arms race continued in developing new craft such as the Excelsior-Class or Constellation-Class. 24th Century The signing of the Khitomer Accords with the Klingons in 2293, followed by the Treaty of Algernon with the Romulans in 2311, brought an era of unrivaled peace and prosperity descended upon the Federation. Star Fleet began to switch more and more of it’s shipbuilding budget to the construction of multi-role vessels like the Ambassador-Class while construction of combat-specific ships waned. Hostilities with the Cardassian Union did require the procurement to procure vessels more tailored to military needs, such as the Akira-Class and Norway-Class. However, Starfleet became a substantially less militarised institution with no bogeyman to fear. The Borg incursion of 2367 shifted a significant portion of Star Fleet’s R&D projects to military pursuits but the true watershed moment was first contact with the Dominion in 2370. The Dominion War did for the feet in the 2370’s much as the Klingon combat did for it in the 2240’s. Construction of Explorer-type vessels were halted as all available dockyard space and resources were dedicated to combat ships. TacFleet also was granted operational control over the almost the entire Exploration Command fleet, which included the Galaxy-Class and Intrepid-Class. The level of losses in Starfleet was immense - though the Federation was victorious, half of the ships was gone by the end of the war just two years later including numerous older Excelsior-Class and Miranda-Class vessels. 25th Century After the Dominion War, military pursuits continued to dominate Starfleet, especially as relations with the Klingon Empire deteriorated. However a conscious effort was made to hark back to the scientific pursuits of Starfleet for the dawn of the 25th century and the Federation-Class of vessels was launched as the 2400's started. Organisation The Star Fleet is headed by the Secretary of the Star Fleet, who serves on the Cabinet of the President of the United Federation of Planets. The Secretary is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Federation General Assembly. The Secretary of the Star Fleet oversees the civilian bureaucracy of the Star Fleet as well as ensuring civilian control over the Operating Forces of the Fleet. Day-to-day control of the Operating Forces of the Fleet is handled by the Commander-in-Chief of the Star Fleet. Nominated by the President and confirmed by the Federation Security Council, the CINC is the senior military officer and holds the rank of Fleet Admiral. Starfleet Operating Forces are broadly delegated across four operational units. * Tactical Command or TacFleet which defends the Federation from foreign aggressors. * Exploration Command or ExpCom which organises the scientific operations of Starfleet. * Logistics Command which handles the materiel requirements of the fleet including the Starbase system. * Support Forces which administers to the specialist officers such as surgeons, counsellors and chaplains. This includes the Judge Advocate General. Within each operational units are individual fleets, task forces, bureaus and departments with more specific authority. Perhaps the most famous of these smaller groupings is TacFleet's Rapid Deployment Force. Vessels & Starbases See Category:Starfleet Ships Varying types of craft and orbital facilities have been commissioned by Starfleet in it's 250 year history, from the early ''Daedelus-Class vessels to the 23rd century Constitution-Class cruisers to the 24th century Galaxy-Class explorers to the latest cutting edge craft like the Broadsword-Class battleships and the Federation-Class explorers. Traditionally vessels have stayed in service in Starfleet for at least forty years, and some can see service for almost a century - with major overhauls every decade or two to keep the spaceframes viable. However, following the Dominion War of the 2370s Starfleet's huge losses saw many of its older vessels destroyed. A major building program followed after the war to restore the fleets numbers, but as such very few vessels in service today are more than three decades old. Starfleet Uniforms See: Starfleet Uniforms Starfleet Uniforms have come in many different designs since its founding in 2161. 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